Greg Davies & Alex Horne Return With A Third Series Of Hit Show Taskmaster

London, Monday 5 September 2016

Greg Davies and his loyal assistant Alex Horne return to Dave on Tuesday 4th October to preside over five fresh comedians, all chomping at the bit to be crowned series 3 Taskmaster champion. Our majestic dictator will judge, pontificate and reprimand with absolute power while Alex tries to prove once and for all that he knows both how to oversee a task and wear a suit at the same time - each with immaculate precision.

Al Murray, Dave Gorman, Paul Chowdhry, Rob Beckett and Sara Pascoe will compete across five weeks to win the respect of the Taskmaster, each other's actual belongings and the most hallowed prize in comedy - the gilded bonce of the Taskmaster himself. Who will topple series 2 victor Katherine Ryan? How does one spread one's clothes as far and as wide as possible? And what is the best way to surprise Alex Horne when he emerges from his shed after an hour cooped up inside? The five rivals will have to use all the creativity, cunning and genius they have to prove their worth to the Taskmaster and his assistant. And bribery. For those wondering - this season's featured vegetable is the humble pea. Small vegetable; colossal series.

Taskmaster was nominated for Best Entertainment Programme at the 2016 Broadcast Awards, was 2015's most watched commission on UKTV's VOD service, UKTV Play and was UKTV's highest rating original series of 2016. Series one and two saw the likes of Josh Widdicombe, Frank Skinner, Katherine Ryan, Roisin Conaty and Joe Wilkinson fight for glory.

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Notes to editors

ALEX HORNE

The creator of Taskmaster, ALEX HORNE was nominated for the 2014 Foster's Comedy Award with his Edinburgh Festival Fringe show Monsieur Butterfly. Alongside his band The Horne Section, ALEX has hosted Nevermind the Buzzcocks (BBC Two) and three series of the acclaimed Alex Horne Presents: The Horne Section (BBC Radio 4). The band performed on John Bishop's Christmas Show (BBC One) and regularly appear in dictionary corner on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4). ALEX's other television credits include: Dave's One Night Stand (Dave), Celebrity Mastermind (BBC1) Drunk History (Comedy Central) and The Games That Time Forgot, a documentary ALEX wrote and presented for BBC Four. ALEX has hosted three series of the iTunes chart-topping, Chortle Award nominated podcast ALEX HORNE BREAKS THE NEWS.

GREG DAVIES

GREG DAVIES is an acclaimed stand-up comedian, actor and the writer and star of the hit Channel 4 sitcom Man Down: "scales new heights of brilliance" (The Times), which returned for a third series in July. After playing infamously psychotic Head of Sixth Form 'Mr Gilbert' in The Inbetweeners (Channel 4) and its two spin-off feature films, Greg starred in three series of Cuckoo (BBC Three/Two) alongside Andy Samberg and Taylor Lautner, which earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme.

Autumn 2017 will see Greg return to the live stage with his first new stand-up show in four years. The new tour will see him play venues up and down the UK, including London's Hammersmith Apollo. Greg's debut solo stand up show Firing Cheeseballs At A Dog was nominated for the prestigious Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2010, and went on to have a three-time extended sell-out national tour.

About Dave

Dave's had a haircut and shave in recent years as it grows from awkward teenager to fully-fledged commissioner of new and original shows. And it's not just comedy these days but entertainment and even some knock-out live sport. Hit UKTV Original commissions include Taskmaster, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and Crackanory, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy. Dave enjoyed critical success with two series of Hoff the Record, a mockumentary ensemble comedy led by the living legend David Hasselhoff.

As well as home-grown delights Dave also goes stateside, cherry-picking cult US Shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits and much-loved Parks and Recreation along with Emmy-nominated The Last Man on Earth. This all contributed to Dave's award win at the 2016 Broadcast Digital Awards for Best Entertainment Channel.

Dave is the UK's most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, and viewers continue to enjoy the ludicrously addictive American Pickers and UK remake of Storage Hunters. The channel continues to grow its original commissioning slate with political show Unspun With Matt Forde, Red Dwarf XI, Dara O Briain's Go8Bit, fantasy comedy Zapped! and Celebrity Storage Hunters airing later this year.

About UKTV

UKTV is the biggest multichannel broadcaster in the UK.
The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for 9.31% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £319m and EBITDA of £82m. It invested £148m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView, Freesat, Amazon Fire and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 23rd year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster in The Sunday Times top 100 companies list.